Out of the Woodwork
by KatharsisJunkie
Summary: New chapter after long period of dormancy! Thane aids Sabra Shepard as she encounters ghosts from her troubled past, including her baby daddy - read and find out! Rated M. Thane/femShep
1. Part 1, Chapter 1

_MAJOR rewrites - hope this turns out preferable to what I had before, and my apologies if my revisions did more harm than good. I'm very worried that I've only made it more confusing as opposed to more interesting, so please let me know._

_Yes, yes, Bioware owns everything..._

_PART ONE: SHEPARD'S JOURNEY HOME_

_Mission: Out of the Woodwork_  
_Destination: New York, NY, U.S., Earth_  
_Status: Complete_

A wisp of smoke rose from the barrel of her pistol as Commander Shepard stood gaping at the fallen body before her. "I... I didn't mean to... to kill him," she sputtered.

"You sure about that, Shepard?"

Shepard turned to look at Jacob, who maintained his usual serious demeanor.

"I can't tell if you're asking me that seriously or if you're dead panning," said Shepard. "What do you think, Thane?"

"I hardly know enough about Mr. Taylor to be able to tell," Thane was diplomatic as ever.

"I'm serious, Shepard," said Jacob. "This man... Sunny, as you call him... is responsible for the death of your daughter, he kidnapped the friend who's like a brother to you, he pimped out your long-lost sister, plus he just tried to kill you. Actually, he tried to kill all three of us," Jacob motioned to he three throwing stars now implanted in the wall behind him. "So are you sure that killing him was an accident? I just want to make sure because if you hadn't killed him I was planning on it."

"And come to think," Shepard seemed seriously overwhelmed, "I used to sleep with this scumbag - I mean, I had a baby with him even. I used to think he was the love of my life."

"You have terrible taste in men," offered Thane.

Jacob chuckled, "Now that was dead panning."

Thane considered Jacob carefully while Shepard avoided all eye contact. Everyone on the Normandy knew Shepard and Thane were steadily falling in lust, though they were still in the early stages of their relationship and pretended nothing was going on.

"Uh..." Jacob cleared his throat, "sorry."

Shepard looked back at her ex lying on the floor and sighed. "Well, I don't know what I expected..."

"You're tired, siha," Thane carefully laid his hand on the distraught woman's shoulder. "We should go back to the ship."

"I'll drop you two off at the dock," said Shepard. "I've got one last thing to do."

Jacob sighed, "Shepard, we've been over this - there's no way we're letting you go anywhere by yourself on this mission."

"The mission is over," she shook her head. "I appreciate your concern, Jacob, but this really is something I have to do by myself, and it's a kind of a drive to get there."

"Can it wait until tomorrow, Sabra?" Thane's use of her first name was rare, and it meant he wasn't taking no for an answer.

Shepard sighed and massaged her forehead as she thought. "All right, okay. I want to see Teddy in the hospital tomorrow anyway." With that she marched out the door.

As the two men followed, Jacob leaned in close to Thane and whispered, "Teddy is the kidnapped kid we saved today, right?"

"That is correct."

"All right," Jacob rolled his head around, cracking his neck. "I am going to sleep well tonight."

Thane nodded. "It has been a long day." Before letting the door close behind him, he looked around at the bodies and wreckage strewn throughout the large room, yet another crate-filled room in a dingy warehouse that Shepard's team had fought their way through. Except this time, instead of Shepard leading them, they had led her.

oOo

_The day before the mission... _

Shepard sat down at her desk, cup of coffee at hand, mentally preparing herself for this loathed task as she waited for the extranet to load. She had to do research for tomorrow's mission so she had some clue of what she was heading into. Her head swam as she stared at the screen. She had no clue where to begin and it didn't help at all that she really didn't want to do this, which is why she had been procrastinating all day. So instead she sighed and laid her head on the desk, hoping this whole situation would just disappear.

"Commander," a glowing blue orb appeared in the far corner of her eye. "Your team would like to speak to you in the conference room."

"My team?" Shepard raised her head, brow furrowed. "All of them?"

"All of them." EDI dissappeared.

"Shit." Shepard immediately started reviewing her action in the preceding weeks. What had she done that would constitute mutiny?

With her guard up on red alert, Shepard entered the conference room. Sure enough, her whole team was there.

"Look," she didn't give them a chance to speak, "if you all think I'm wasting time on this mission tomorrow, I can call it off. I respect all of your opinions, and if you don't like me goin out of the way for my personal bull shit we can just continue on to the reaper IFF. But if you're going to do something stupid like mutiny over this..."

"Mutiny?" Garrus scoffed. "Calm down, Shepard. We're gathered here out of concern for you."

Miranda stepped forward authoritatively. "We've noticed you're unprepared for tomorrow's mission. Sunny instructed you to meet him alone and without weapons... we seriously hope you aren't considering following those demands. You don't seem to realize just how dangerous this ex-lover of yours has become."

"We've researched him on both the extranet _and _Earth's internet," peeped Tali.

Miranda glared at the interjection. "Yes, we have. And we found out that he's not only into drugs but explosives and prostitution."

"Prostitution?" Shepard balked. "That can't be right, Sunny reproves of prostitution."

"Maybe he did, but not any longer," said Jacob. "This guy's a seriously bad man, Shepard. We don't know what he was like when you lived with him but..." he trailed off.

"Sunny was dangerous," Shepard shrugged, "That's why I wanted him.

More than a few eyes drifted over to Thane.

"But back then he just did drugs. He was a small time dealer," Shepard's eyes were fogging over, drifting off into some memory.

"Well, he's in the big time now, Shepard," Miranda said a little forcefully. "And his gang is huge. From what we understand, they have a reputation for not using guns. But they do use blades, projectiles, and possibly biotics. The last thing you want is a throwing star deep in your chest, Shepard."

"I've taken on hoards of thugs many times before," Shepard said, a little impatiently. "What makes this time any different?"

They all looked at each other, then they all looked at Thane. Thane glared at Garrus, Garrus glared back, and the two men had a short, silent power struggle before Thane won.

So Garrus cleared his throat to speak, "We're all afraid that..." he shifted uncomfortably. "Well, that you might be emotionally compromised on this mission..."

"Emotionally compromised?" Shepard's gaze darkened.

"Hear me out," Garrus demanded, "We all know your relationship and history with this man, we know he was your dead child's father, we know about Daisy and how she died..."

Shepard gave Thane the death look. To his credit, Sere Krios didn't even wince.

"Don't get mad at Krios," said Garrus. "We all did research and together pulled up every news article on Sunny's illegal activity's, and on the fire in your apartment building, and we found Daisy's birth and death certificates."

"The only thing I told them was that Sunny was supposed to be watching your daughter and failed to pull her out of the fire," said Thane. "The rest they put together themselves."

Shepard rubbed the lines out of her forehead, trying to relax the muscles there.

"We know this has to be very painful for you, Shepard," Samara's voice was smooth at water, as usual, but with a motherly tone. "Sere Krios and I are the only other parents here, and we were privileged to raise our children into adulthood... But we can still empathize that losing a child so early, before it's young life had even really begun, must be a true burden to live with."

Silence passed over the room. Shepard hid her face with her hands. Thane moved to her side and caressed her back, realizing before the others that their Commander was actually crying. Her biggest secret, the best kept secret in the galaxy, was being shoved back in her face for her to deal with. Shepard had been suppressing her feelings on this issue for 13 years.

"We want to help you, Shepard," said Tali finally.

Jacob cleared his throat, "I think I speak for the whole crew when I say that we all appreciate the personal missions you've helped us with... and we'd follow you anywhere, Shepard."

"Tali and Jacob are right," said Miranda. "You've bent over backwards to help every one of us. And this is our opportunity to pay you back."

Shepard shook her head, "You're going to follow me into that Collector base. That's what you're here for," her voice was strained with tears.

"That's true. We're going into that base to save the human race from extinction," Thane's baritone voice rumbled softly. "Tomorrow we're going to help you confront your demons, the way you helped us."

"This is all very touching, but what the Hell do you suggest we do?" Shepard wiped away the last of her tears and looked up at them with red-rimmed eyes.

"Yeah, come on," Jack growled. "Tell Shepard about the part where we kick her ex-boyfriend's ass."

Grunt chuckled with glee. Glee fueled by blood-lust, but glee nonetheless.

"Right," Miranda eyed the krogan warily, "Pull up the diagrams of Sunny's warehouse, Tali."

Tali activated the hologram in the middle of the conference table to show a virtual replica of the warehouse Sunny operated from.

Miranda smirked, "All right, Shepard, here's the plan."

oOo

_The morning of the mission..._

"Okay, boys, either of you ever ride a motorcycle before?" Shepard gestured at an example in the store window.

Shepard, Thane, and Jacob were standing in front of a vehicle rental place right outside of the customs office of Earth's New York City spaceport. The spaceport itself was suspended several miles above the city and they had taken a shuttle down to customs. Making it through the many security checkpoints was uneventful, and Thane was used to getting strange looks, so that wasn't a problem. He supposed most Earth humans had never even heard of drell.

"Can't say I have, Shepard," Jacob walked up to the window display and whistled. "They almost look like the ones in the old vids, except no wheels."

"Don't worry," said Shepard before she approached the shop's consultant. "I'll drive, one of you rides in the side car, the other rides behind me. While I take care of this keep your eyes peeled for anyone who might be Sunny's spy. We wanna keep his eyes on us so the others can sneak in with the guns and Tali and Garrus will have time to hack the main terminal." She turned to the consultant and started specifying what she wanted.

Thane and Jacob turned to each other, an uncomfortable question between them.

"I'll ride in the side car, if you don't mind, Krios," said Jacob. "Motorcyles just really aren't my kind of thing. Plus, I'm not as close with Shepard as you are..."

Thane's brow quirked in response.

"I don't mean to suggest that... I just mean..." Jacob stammered.

"I take no offense, Mr. Taylor." Thane didn't betray the knot that formed in his stomach. He understood that this meant getting very close to Shepard's backside, a part of her body he had only brushed against once by accident. And on this day she had opted out of her usual plated armor and gone for a sleek suit instead. It was less conspicuous for travelling around Earth, but it clung tighter to her curves than her armor. It was going to be a long day for Thane. But he kept his cool when it came time to climb on behind her.

"Hold on tight, Thane," she warned.

Thane leaned forward, leaving almost an inch of space between him and Shepard, and carefully wrapped his arms around her, just barely touching her stomach.

Shepard slapped his thigh playfully, "I said _tight, _Sere Krios."

He pressed his chest against Shepard's back and locked his arms around her waist.

"Better," she said over her shoulder, their helmets clinking against each other. Then she revved the engine and with a jolt they bolted off.

Shepard zipped through the streets of New York City so fast that Thane could barely recognize the landmarks he had seen in holos. She certainly made sure the ride was exciting, turning every corner sharply, lacing her way around other transports, and taking more than a couple pedestrians off guard.

"Why didn't you just rent a car, Shepard?" asked Jacob over the engine at the one red light Shepard actually stopped for. "We could have just flown over the street traffic." Jacob looked pointedly up at the stream of cars flying around the taller buildings.

"Motorcycles are more dangerous," she shouted back. "And we can hide a motorcycle easier."

Progressively the quality of buildings and streets diminished until they reached the slums. She carefully parked in an alleyway behind, what else, an abandoned warehouse.

"If we're lucky this will still be here when we're done," said Shepard as she removed her helmet and shook out her hair. "But be prepared to walk."

"What do you expect to find inside?" asked Jacob.

"I dunno," she shrugged. "This is supposed to be a peaceful meeting, but nothing Sunny ever does is peaceful. He doesn't like guns, though. We'll probably be met by a slew of martial artists. There's a small chance we'll make it through without a fight."

"What if we get in there and they have guns?" Jacob was cautious as always. "I gotta admit I'm feeling a bit apprehensive without my guns."

"We escape," said Shepard. "We're gambling here, but we stick to Miranda's plan. Luckily we all have biotics and strong hand-to-hand combat skills so I'm not too worried... plus I'm sure Thane's hiding somethin sharp and nasty in all that leather. Okay. Ready?"

"Let's go," Jacob nodded.

"You ready, Thane?" asked Shepard.

"I look forward to the challenge," but Thane was glad he was hiding three blades.

"That's what I like to hear," Shepard smiled. "Come on, to the front."


	2. Part 1, Chapter 2

_This is all recycled from the last version of this story._  
_Sunny and Teddy are my creations, only cause I couldn't find anyone in the ME universe that fit the roles I wanted them to play._

_Bioware owns everything else._

_Mission: Out of the Woodwork_  
_One month before the mission..._

He didn't know it yet, but it was going to be a very long evening.

After returning from the day's mission Thane passed the time in life support by silently focusing on various memories and trying to meditate. Unfortunately, he kept thinking with great embarrassment about the mission to recruit Samara. Shepard had brought him along to test his skills. They had just cleared a room full of Asari mercenaries when Shepard, standing a few feet in front of Thane, paused to take a breath. Thane suddenly realized he was staring at Shepard's armor thinking about the body under it when she turned to him. His eyes shot up to Shepard's, trying not to look like the child who got caught with his hand in the cookie jar, which was ridiculous because after so many years of training and meditation a single human woman shouldn't affect him so. She held his gaze, smiled, and winked before she reloaded her shot gun and moved on.

All he could think about was Shepard's body, her midnight hair, her fiery eyes. Did she know Thane had been checking her out? Here he was one of the best assassins in the galaxy, a reputation for stealth and discipline, and his usually peaceful mind was consumed by the body of a human woman, turning to look and wink at him. He thought of the curve of her breasts, so foreign to Drell, and how they contrasted with her slender waist that flared out into her hips. And that backside... One hand shot down to his thigh, sliding up his loins and pressing against his hardening length. He closed his eyes and took a ragged breath. His fingers reached for the zipper of his pants...

*_Swoosh* _The door to life support slid open and Thane quickly returned his hand to above the desk. The Commander's footsteps announced her presence.

"Hey there," she said as she rounded the corner. "Am I interrupting anything?"

Thane paused to regain his composure before turning to her. "No, I was doing nothing."

"Not even meditating?"

Thane couldn't stop the small half-smile creeping to his lips and he had to look away. "No, not even that."

"I'd like to ask a favor of you."

"What is that?"

Shepard shifted from foot to foot. Was she nervous? Her face was like stone, betraying none of what she was feeling. "Did you hear Jacob challenged me to a Kung Fu match tonight?"

"It was mentioned in the mess hall."

She shrugged. "You should come watch. I've noticed you're hand to hand combat is excellent. And I would appreciate an appraisal of my skills today."

"Thank you, Shepard, that is very flattering. I shall pay close attention at the match. I'm curious, might I ask how you came to learn this Kung Fu? It is an ancient human martial arts form, correct?"

She laughed. "Correct. An old boyfriend taught me. He taught me everything he knew, and not just about Kung Fu. But Jacob was delighted when he found out we've both studied it. So every now and then he makes me spar with him and everyone watches and places bets. Recently I guess everyone thinks I've been spending too much time in my room. Hopefully I don't disappoint you. I'll talk to you after Jacob finishes kicking my ass, I gotta go get ready."

Both disappointed and relieved to see her go, Thane didn't even try to stop her. He had to take care of something, ten years of abstaining was catching up with him.

"EDI, let me know when the match between Shepard and Mr. Taylor begins. And lock the door."

oOo

All the equipment in the cargo bay had been pushed to the walls, and some of it was even dumped in the hallway to accommodate the small crowd gathering. Almost all of the crew was there, half of them placing bets. Most of the money was on Shepard.

"Come on, she came back from the dead," reasoned one of the engineers. "She can't be beaten."

The crowd and noise immediately turned Thane off. He was never unpleasant in social situations, just very reserved.

"Krios," called Garrus from across the room. "Over here."

Thane walked the perimeter of the mat laid out for the match, as opposed to over it. Garrus and Miranda were seated on a crate uncomfortably next to each other, one of the many brought in as make shift seats.

"You looked lost," said Garrus as Thane sat next to Miranda.

As Jacob and Shepard entered the room dressed in sweats and barefoot, the audience settled down. Thane noticed the numerous tattoos and scars that were usually hidden on the Commander's body. On one shoulder was a portrait of a human girl and the letters "R.I.P." Peaking out of her very small lycra tank top was an animal paw print on her chest and on her back a beautiful, robed, dark-haired woman carrying a fan. One leg was almost completely covered by a dragon swirling along the length. Even her feet had wings tattooed on the ankles. Thane wasn't sure how he felt about the way humans decorated their bodies, but on Shepard these tattoos, mingled with numerous scars, added to her allure. He wanted to know the story behind each one.

Acting as referee, Joker's voice interrupted Thane's appraisal of Shepard's body. "By now we all know the rules," he motioned for Jacob and Shephard to cross to opposing sides of the mat. "Stay on the mat, every hit is one point, 3 points to win. Okay? Okay, when you're ready..."

Jacob and Shepard faced each other, both determined, Shepard vibrant with energy, Jacob serious as ever. They both put a fist into a palm and as they bowed Jacob closed his eyes in a Zen-like trance while Shepard grinned devilishly. Then they quickly slid into their fighting stances, dominant arm pulled back above the shoulder, the other arm held defensively in front. Each fighter's body language could not be more different. Shepard stood aggresively, fire in her eyes, while Jacob was more passive and cautious.

They only stood for a long moment when Shepard shot forward with a series of lighting fast blows, each skillfully blocked by Jacob, and interrupted when he dropped down and in the blink of an eye swept Shepard off her feet. She didn't fall as much as bounce to the ground and back up, immediately delivering another punch and then a kick, which Jacob intercepted and once again threw Shepard to the ground. She found him off guard for a split second as she jumped back up and planted her fist right into Jacob's jaw, sending him flying to the floor.

"One point for Shepard!" shouted Joker with great enthusiasm.

"You got lucky, Commander," Jacob rubbed his jaw as he pulled himself back up.

"Dammit, Jacob, for the last time, call me Shepard," she slipped back into her fighting stance and Jacob did too.

The crew shouted and cheered as the match continued. The next blow was Jacob's, then Jacob's again, and things were looking grim for Shepard. Thane was disappointed as he was secretly rooting for her, but on the other hand her fighting was exceptional. This human fighting style was fascinating, demanding great agility and awareness and moved so quickly it was hard to keep up.

If Shepard was getting tired she wasn't showing it. The excitement just seemed to get her blood pumping and propelled her forward.

Finally, Jacob swung a punch that Shepard dodged, quickly grabbing his arm as she lunged forward, taking Jacob's arm with her. He leg flew up behind Jacob's back as he fell backwards and he was flipping head over heals. The instant after his body met the mat he started to flip back up, but Shepard pounced and met him with a punch in the face.

"Another point for Shepard! They're neck in neck!" Joker cried as he hobbled forward to help Jacob up.

Thane smiled inwardly as Jacob and Shephard eased back into position. His pulse was racing from all the excitement of the fight and the crowd, and as hard as he tried to contain himself he was ever so slightly leaning forward. The opponents' faces were set and determined, Jacob even graver than before, but the gleam in Shepard's eye remained. They started to circle each other until Jacob's back was turned to Thane, who could see Shepard, her energy coiled up like a spring ready to pounce, from under Jacob's ready arm. For an instant, her gaze shifted to meet with Thane's, and she smiled right before zipping forward with a kick aimed at Jacob's chest. Jacob blocked and used her leg to flip her skyward. But she recoiled her body and using her hands against the mat for leverage sprung back at Jacob and planted her feet into his chest, sending him flying onto Thane and Miranda's laps. He fell at their feet with a thud, the smell of sweat and heat filling Thane's senses.

Every better who had lain their money down on Shepard was cheering wildly.

"Shepard wins!" Joker raised her hand above her head and she smiled broadly. Then she released herself from Joker to extend a hand to Jacob.

"Good match," she said.

"Next time, Commander," Jacob grasped at his chest as he caught his breath.

"Call me Shepard, Jacob," she patted her adversary on the back as she glanced over her shoulder at Thane. He couldn't decipher the look in her eyes, and she seemed as if she would approach him, but Donnely stole her attention to congratulate her.

Thane felt the desire to linger and speak with her. But if she wanted to talk she knew where to find him. In the mean time he had to get away from this crowd, so he slipped out. Not resisting the urge to look over his shoulder, he caught Shepard staring after him, ignoring those around her. But whatever she was thinking, there was no sign of it on her face.

Thane almost felt humiliated as he was acting like a lovestruck teenager, stealing glances at the object of his desire and trying to ignore the visceral reactions. Only Irikah had ever made him feel this way. But back then he was young and cocky.

_"You shouldn't be here," she opens the door of the balcony for him anyway. "My parents will hear."_

_He kisses her, gently. He pushes her further into the room. His hands are on the small of her back, pushing her pelvis against his._

_"What makes you think I want you to touch me like that?"_

_"My siha, I love you."_

_"You don't know what love is. You're a murderer." But she lets him remove her nightshift. "Don't even think you're going to get away with what you did last night."_

_He lifts her, smoothly, and lays her on her bed. He slips out of his cloths right before he climbs on top of her._

_"I'm going to tell everyone you raped me."_

_"No, you won't," he enters her. She sighs, nails scraping down his back._

_"Oh, Thane..."_

_He thrusts into her. "You're going to marry me." He thrusts again. She groans. "You're going to carry my children." He thrusts harder. Her nails dig into his shoulders._

_"Thane..."_

_He fills her completely. She shifts her pelvis to help. He sinks deeper. He stiffles her scream with his mouth._

_"Understand, siha? You're mine."_

oOo

Shepard did come to talk to him that night. His conversation with her was enjoyable, it was nice to talk to someone else who made a living out of killing. After Shepard left Thane was able to avoid reliving the bad memories and focus on the good as he tried to fall asleep.

_Her sunset-colored eyes are melancholy. She's on the verge of tears._

_"Where have you been for the past four months? I needed you. You've been impossible to get ahold of."_

_"Tell me what's wrong." He reaches for her hands, but she folds them over her belly._

_She looks him in the eye, searching for what he's thinking. A slight smile, "I'm pregnant. Four months pregnant. A baby boy, Thane."_

Thane was jolted from his memory. "Kolyat," he whispered. As soon as he told Shepard about Kolyat it would all be over before it even started, he was sure of it.

As if on cue the pinging of his omni-tool alarmed Thane of an urgent message. After reading it he dressed quickly and rushed to see the commander, hoping she wouldn't jump to conclusions about his visit so soon after she had left him. Those conclusions would probably be correct, but this wasn't the right time.

Thane was somewhat uneasy as he approached the door to the commander's personal quarters. He had been a part of the crew for barely over a week, and he had no clue how she would react to his urgent request. Despite her attempts to be acquainted with her crew, and despite his attraction to her, she always felt so far away.

Then, as the door to Shepard's cabin opened, Thane paused on the threshold, listening to a song Shepard had just started playing very loudly at her personal terminal. It was a woman's raspy voice singing, almost howling as if she were in pain. Thane stepped forward quietly to observe Shepard as she sang along at the top of her lungs, eyes closed as she got lost in the melody.

"Shepard," Thane shouted over the music.

She immediately spun around, jaw dropped open and eyes wide. Then she scrambled to kill the music.

"What can I do for you, Thane?" she resumed her commander demeanor, a drastic change from what Thane had just seen.

He opened his mouth as though to speak, but then started to pace in front of the fish tank instead. "Now that I'm here - it seems more difficult to talk about."

"Are you feeling ill?" Shepard stood and approached Thane, "I can call the doctor..."

"No, no. Though I suppose that is a part of it. My mortality has me... dwelling on things." He stopped pacing, staring at the fish tank, reflecting. "I had a family once. I still have a son. His name is Kolyat. I haven't seen him in a very long time." He watched Shepard's reaction out of the corner of his eye.

For only an instant she seemed taken aback, an expression on the verge of disgusted, or maybe disappointment. "How long has it been since you've seen him?"

"Ten years..." Thane went on to explain how he was absent for most of Kolyat's childhood, and that Kolyat now had started to follow the path of his father, slipping into two memories along the way. Shephard kept her stone face on for most of it, only averting her eyes when Thane recalled his wife's funeral.

"Sounds like your son's looking for trouble," Shepard turned from him and pushed a button somewhere on her desk, "Joker, change course for the Citadel. We have a time sensitive matter to deal with."

"If you say so, Commander," said Joker's voice doubtfully.

She turned back to Thane. "We had to go to the Citadel soon anyways. Garrus has a ghost from his past to deal with also. We'll just stay there until both matters are settled."

"Thank you, Shepard," he turned to go.

"Good job today," Shepard stopped him. "You're definitely one of my best fighters. I'm glad you..."

"Shepard, urgent call for you," Joker's voice came through the comm. "I can't trace the signal."

"Patch it through anyway," she sat at her desk.

A man's voice spoke, unfamiliar to Thane, but obviously familiar to Shepard, "Hello, Sabra. It's been a long time."

Shepard's tanned skin turned grey, "What do you want, Sunny?"

Sunny laughed. "What kind of greeting is that for the father of your only child?"

"That child is dead, and it's your fault, remember?" Shepard's umber eyes were burning, and not just because of the cybernetics.

"And you took your revenge, remember?" The man's voice was chilling, "I remember, I see the scars you left every day. But I can put the past behind me if you can..."

"What do you want, you filthy son of a..."

"Woah, woah, woah... Watch that mouth, Sabra. We should cooperate, an urgent matter has come up that concerns us both."

"Spit it out."

Sunny laughed, "I've left you a note on the Citadel, follow its instructions to find me and we'll talk."

"I'm not gonna play games with you."

"Well I can't very well give away my position over an unsecured signal. You'll follow the note. You want to talk to me." Thane could hear the man's sadistic smile in his voice.

"Is that so?"

"It is."

Shepard stifled a laugh, "Enlighten me. Please."

Sunny paused for dramatic effect. "Daisy isn't dead."

Shepard's jaw dropped open, she looked sick. "There's no way."

Sunny laughed, and the signal died.

In anger Shepard slammed her fist into the desk, "Joker, see if you can get that signal back."

"No can do, Commander," came Joker's voice.

"Dammit," Shepard stood and looked around her desk for something. Her eyes landed on a picture frame that had been turned face down. In the next instant it was lying on the floor across the room.

Thane started to leave.

"Don't..." he turned to see Shepard looking at him, something pleading in her eyes. Her thick, parted lips were calling wordlessly to Thane.

He ignored the visceral reactions. "Yes, Shephard?"

She shook her head, unable to decide what to say.

Thane waited in silence. He could tell Shepard wanted him to stay, though his humility wouldn't let him fully believe it. Finally, he crossed the room and picked up the picture frame on the floor. He looked at the holo of the dark haired, handsome human male.

"Is this... Sunny?" he asked.

"No. No, that's Kaidan. He has nothing to do with this situation, I'm just angry with him for... other reasons."

There was an uncomfortable silence as Shepard stood defensively, arms crossed, and Thane analyzed how to handle the situation.

"We'll take care of your son, Thane," she finally said, diverting her eyes to her growing collection of model ships. "He's a teenager, right? If my daughter was alive she'd be 15 this month."

Thane was confused, "You would have been a very young parent, Shepard."

"On Earth, the poorer and less privileged you are the younger you tend to become a parent. I had nothing and Sunny and I both held... less than savory jobs to support Daisy. I lost all innocence at a very young age."

_"So, to get initiated into your gang... I have to... go to bed with you?" Sabra played with her long black hair nervously._

_"Come on, calm down, you'll tear your hair out," Sunny smiled, "And it's such pretty hair." He stepped in close to her and gently tugged her locks from her hand. He caressed her hair, and as Sabra's young heart pounded he bowed his head to lock her lips with his._

_She was aching to ask him, "How old are you, Sunny?"_

_"Don't you worry about that."_

_"I don't care, I just wanna know."_

_"Sixteen."_

_Sabra could have passed out. She couldn't believe this tall, dark, and handsome young man was about to lay aside all of his bad-assery to... Making love wasn't the right words for it, she knew that even at twelve years of age. But what did it matter? She needed the protection of a gang and wanted his affections._

_"Do you make all of your gang members sleep with you?" Sabra suddenly realized Sunny had been backing her against the wall._

_"No, just you," he smiled, the devil dancing in his eyes, but Sabra couldn't see it. "I have to have you, Sabra. You're so beautiful, so mature for your age." He fingered her developing breasts. "What do you say?"_

_She swallowed nervously. "You... you know I can't say no, Sunny."_

_"Good. Now take your clothes off."_

"You were twelve when you lost your virginity?" Thane was thinking about how that was the same age he was when he made his first kill.

"Not really, depending on how you define virginity" Shepard shifted uncomfortably. "It was just the first consensual time. I had good reasons for running away when I left the orphanage to join Sunny's gang. I knew things no child should have to know."

"I had no idea..."

"Yeah, well, things are rough all over. I don't feel sorry for myself." She looked Thane in the eye. "This is strictly confidential."

"I understand," Thane nodded.

"As it is, Joker most likely listened in on that call and the story will be all over the ship within hours. Nothing is private. I take it you've heard about Horizon?"

"From what I understand your ex-lover had unkind words for you," Thane looked down at the picture frame still in his hand. The rest of the crew claimed Shepard had been much warmer before Horizon, only becoming the withdrawn woman Thane knew afterward.

"It was not even two weeks ago and no one can allow me that little time to mope about it," she sighed and grabbed her dark hair in frustration.

Thane considered his next question carefully, but asked against his better judgement, "Did you love him?"

"Hell no. Our relationship lasted all of a month before I got spaced. During our reunion on Horizon he told me he had loved me," Shephard laughed. "Only fools fall in love that quickly. I fell in love with Sunny within hours of meeting him and all that got me was knocked up."

"'Knocked up?'" Thane asked, genuinely curious, "That is a human expression?"

"It means unwed and pregnant." Shephard's eyes narrowed as she thought about it. "Man, I could be a parent if things turned out differently. Can you see me as a parent, even in the short time you've known me?"

"Yes."

This obviously wasn't the answer Shepard expected. "You're the first person ever not to say no."

Thane took a few steps toward Shepard. "You are affectionate, fun-loving, and you care genuinely about the people around you. I think you'd be an ideal mother, Shepard."

She blushed, shocked. "All right, Thane, I've detained you long enough. You better go get some rest."

"I'll be meditating until you need me," he bowed and left.


	3. Part 1, Chapter 3

_Mission: Out of the Woodwork_

_Day of the mission..._

"Here it is, Shepard," Miranda reloaded her gun.

Shepard stared at the door, stone faced, her every breath drawn out. Her squad waited patiently while she prepared herself.

"Wait here," she said as she reached for the door.

"No can do," Garrus was looking at a radar on his omni-tool. "There's half a dozen men in there, at least."

Shepard turned and looked at nine determined faces. "Okay, you can go in with me. Except a few of you have to stay out here and guard the door. Tali, Grunt, you stay out here."

Grunt's face fell, "Aw, come on, Shepard."

"Why us?" Tali said, wounded.

"You're the two youngest and the history between me and Sunny contains some very adult themes," Shepard laughed nervously.

She pushed the door open, "Hiya, Sunny."

oOo

_One hour earlier..._

Getting inside the warehouse was always the easy part. Shepard, Thane, and Jacob turned down a few poorly lit hallways slowing their pace as they approached the double doors at the last hallway's end.

"Be ready," Shepard said softly.

On the other side of those doors was a large room with a concrete floor, the walls lined with crates and boxes. As they stepped inside, ten men dressed in red, thier heads shaved, appeared from various doors.

"Only ten?" Jacob whispered so only Thane and the Commander could hear.

"Welcome back, Sabra," one of the men approached her and stood close, too close, but she did not take one step back.

"Alfonse. Still fighting over dirty city blocks?" Shepard dead-panned, "What a glorious life you lead."

Alfonse sneered, "You used to understand. There was a time when you'd shed blood for the cause. You're no longer who you used to be."

"Still the same girl," Shepard shook her head. "Just got a more worthy cause now. And you're distracting me from it, so let's get to the point. Where's Sunny?"

Alfonse ignored her and eyed Thane. "What's wrong, Sabra? Can't stop to talk to an old friend? Too busy with your alien friends? I heard how you sent thousands of Alliance soldiers to their deaths to save three fuckin aliens. You into xenophilia these days?"

"Wow," Shepard feigned shock, "What a big word - hope you didn't hurt yourself on that one."

"Fuck you," Alfonse glared daggers at Shepard. "Aren't you supposed to be dead?"

"Bitches like me don't die," Shepard smirked. "Now when can I see Sunny?"

Alfonse licked his lips, "You wanna see Sunny?"

Shepard rolled her eyes. "What the fuck did I just say?" she yelled.

"Sunny's upstairs. But if you wanna see him..." Alfonse pulled something off his belt and smiled pervertedly, "You're goin in cuffs. And your friends stay down here and play nice with my friends."

"You gotta be kidding," Shepard shook her head.

Alfonse smiled, "I'm afraid you don't have a choice, baby."

_POW_. Alfonse went down, right after his face met Shepard's fist.

"Don't call me baby," Shepard said standing over him.

The other men in red jumped into action and charged Shepard and her team. Jacob responded by grabbing crates off the wall and bowling over the two men who came for him. Shepard jumped on one of the crates before delivering a succession of biotic shockwaves, her favorite biotic power.

"Miranda?" she said with her hand to her comm unit, "Where are you guys?"

"We got an unexpected surprise, Shepard," said Miranda's voice against the frazzled sounds of battle.

Thane grabbed the first man who reached him by the head and snapped his neck immediately, which made the other two gang members who had been running at him pause and balk and the green humanoid. That gave Thane the opportunity to propel himself forward and punch one man in the nose, then swing around and knock the other man off his feet with one leg. No sooner had he hit the floor when Thane delivered his fist into his windpipe.

The man with the broken nose recovered, though his blood was flowing down his front, and came at Thane with a flying kick. Thane grabbed the man's leg as it thudded into his chest, and though winded Thane was able to twist and break his foot. Thane left him writhing on the floor to help Jacob.

Jacob was having fun bowling men down with crates. But they quickly recovered and Jacob was running out of crates. As he was lifting and throwing the last box, one of the men in red was able to sneak up on his side and break a couple of ribs with a well-placed punch. Jacob went down but Thane slipped up behind the man to grab and dislocate his arm while throwing him into another approaching thug.

Yet another thug was suddenly on top of Thane, seizing him in a choke hold, but the man passed out when Jacob broke a crate on his head.

"Thank you," Thane breathed.

"No problem, Krios," Jacob shouted over his shoulder as he bolted to help Shepard.

Thane had to recover quickly as one of the men got back up and was suddenly pumping out a series of punches that Thane barely blocked before he was able to grab one hand and snap it back, breaking the wrist, just as Thane punched the man in the teeth with his free hand. The man fell back and jumped right up again, spitting out his lost tooth at Thane. Thane greeted him with a kick to the stomach, winning him enough time to work up a powerful biotic throw, slamming the man into the wall.

Jacob hurled a shockwave at three of the men attacking Shepard, including Alfonse. A fourth one she had thrown into boxes on the far side of the room, breaking his legs as he came down. But the three shockwave victims jumped back up.

Shephard took Alfonse, Jacob another, and Thane came up from behind the last one. Shepard used biotics to break her opponent's back while Jacob had some hand to hand with him man before 3 successive punches to the face knocked the guy out. Thane was able to break the arm of the last one, but he kept fighting so Thane quickly placed him in a choke hold and held him until he passed out.

Finally Shepard, Jacob, and Thane were the last three standing. Some of the thugs were still conscious but too broken to care any longer.

Shepard broke into her commander pose, feet shoulder width apart, hands on hips, shoulders back, head held high. "Good job, boys."

"Do you hear that, Shepard?" Jacob was suddenly very concerned as from behind the doors they heard the battle cries of what could be more than a hundred men.

"Miranda? Garrus? Where the Hell are you?" Shepard powered up her biotics. "I need my gun."

Miranda's voice was strained, "Coming, Commander."


	4. Part 1, Chapter 4

_Mission: Out of the Woodwork_  
_Mission status: incomplete_  
_The day of the mission..._

"Here comes the cavalry, Shepard," Jacob called as the rest of the team filed through the door, except Garrus and Tali who were still detained hacking the main terminal in the basement.

"Guns, give us guns," Shepard demanded. As Miranda placed Shepard's shotgun in her hands, Sunny's thugs were spilling into the room by the dozens.

A few of the red-clad men paused when they realized their enemy was armed. Some ran away immediately. Most charged on like programmed droids, powering up biotics and pulling out very pointy projectiles.

No one even had time to think "oh shit."

"Tali, Mordin," Shepard pointed to a mountain of crates behind her.

They understood and lithely climbed the crates, knowing full well that they were the weakest in hand-to-hand combat. From their perches they could quickly pick out the strongest fighters. Tali sent her drone after the more powerful biotics while Mordin launched his neural shock and the most skilled martial artists.

"Stick together," Shepard shouted to the rest of her team. But that proved difficult until they had dodged the last of their enemy's projectiles.

The thugs successfully isolated Garrus and Jack, but luckily those two were very capable of taking care of themselves.

"Don't waste your ammo," commanded Shepard, "there's too many of them."

The biotics did their best to throw, pull, and warp the thugs away from the team so everyone could keep shooting. One after another Sunny's men kept sneaking in closer. One caught Miranda off guard and knocked her down, only to have Jacob's strong fist in his face the next instant. Jacob's biotics sent the offender flying and Miranda finished him off with her pistol from where she lay on the floor.

"They're backing us against the wall, Shepard," warned Samara, "I don't like this."

"I know," Shepard's shoulder bumped into Thane's arm. The drell had one heel already braced against the wall of crates.

"Running out of ammo, Shepard," said Mordin, alarmed.

"I know, I know," Shepard holstered her submachine gun, accidentally picked her empty shotgun, and quickly grabbed her pistol, sneaking a shockwave in between those actions.

"Out of ammo, Shepard," Grunt roared as he barreled into the crowd of Sunny's men, sending several flying like ragdolls.

"They're starting to scale the crates, Shepard," Tali was on the verge of panic.

"Garrus is down, Shepard," cried out Miranda.

"I'm fine, Shepard," Garrus popped back up and body slammed a large thug, then pistol-whipped the stunned man.

"Fuck it, Shephard," Jack holstered her gun and with a war cry charged into the swarm in Grunt's wake.

Shepard growled, "Dammit, I'm changing my name to Jones."

She found her back against the crates, and quickly looked around to see where Thane had disappeared to. He had climbed the crates in order to aid Tali, both of them out of ammo and Tali's drone struggling to keep up.

The ever-resourceful Mordin had cracked open a crate full of unloaded submachine guns and was bombarding his assailants with them

"I think they're thinning out," Jacob had holstered his last gun and started swinging his fists, keeping close to Miranda whose close combat skills nowhere near matched his.

Samara worked up an incredibly powerful throw and sent a good chunk of what was left of the thugs flying.

Shepard used a shockwave to thin out the crowd before her before running in, ready to put skin to skin.

"That's enough," yelled a voice over a loudspeaker.

Immediately the remaining thugs backed off.

"Clean up that mess."

They started to drag the limp bodies of their comrades out of the room, acting as though Shepard and her team had disappeared.

"If you had just come alone we could have avoided that, Sabra," said the disembodied voice.

Shepard furrowed her brow. "Sunny? Can you hear me?"

"Come up to the third floor and we will discuss this." Then, sarcastically, "Bring your friends if you must."

oOo

_Three weeks before the mission..._

"Commander Shepard, I think people are starting to stare at you," Thane had lowered his voice so only he and the woman at his side could hear.

Ignoring him, Shepard snapped her fingers and nodded her head to some imaginary tune in her head. At least she was finally showing spirit. They were walking through the Zakera Wards on their way back to the ship. Garrus had lost them a long time ago, choosing to walk ahead as he brooded. He had accomplished what he came here to do, Sidonis was dead, Shepard helped him take revenge. But something was still wrong, as Thane knew very well, revenge did not equal relief.

Shepard seemed to be thinking the same thing, "Maybe I should have stopped him."

"What's done is done. I believe that's a human philosophy," said Thane.

She started to smile at him, but something else caught her eye and Shepard stopped dead in her tracks. She gaped at a wall covered in graffiti, black figures from some human language that Thane couldn't understand. But it meant something to Shepard.

"Right," she breathed. She was obviously deeply disturbed.

"What is this language?" asked Thane.

"Chinese. Sunny was Chinese, he taught me some of the language. It's his instructions. He's giving me three weeks to get to Earth." Shepard drew a hand through her short, black hair and groaned. "I don't know why but I can't resist, I have to know what he's up to. You should go spend time with Kolyat one more time before we leave, the next three weeks are going to be a marathon."

"I already have an appointment with him this evening." He almost smiled, "That bruise across his face is a lovely shade of black right now."

Shepard laughed. "When you see him tonight tell him I'm sorry I punched him," she smiled at the memory, but it was a sad smile, overshadowed by her expectations for this next venture.

"He'll understand. One day," he suppressed a laugh as he thought of Shepard punching his son in the face. The boy was being foolish, he had it coming to him, and Shepard probably saved him from a prison sentence in doing it.

"What are you smirking about?" Shepard's voice interrupted his thoughts as they continued towards the Normandy.

"Nothing." Thane noticed the Commander was quickly advancing towards tears, "You're thinking about your daughter? You want to believe she's alive?"

"No, actually," Shepard's voice was cracking now, "If she's alive that means she grew up without a mother, and that she hates me the way I hated my mother for leaving me." She saw the concern on Thane's face, "Don't look at me like that, Thane, I hate when people pity me, that's why I've told so few people about Daisy."

"I don't pity you, siha."

"Siha?"

"I'll explain it later. What is this about your daughter?"

Shepard sighed and held her head in her hands. "Remember when I told you I Iearned Kung Fu from my ex-boyfriend? That was Sunny... he was more than my boyfriend. He was a tutor, the leader of the gang I belonged to, my only authority figure, my first true lover... and the father of my only child. He also killed her."

_"Where is our baby, Sunny?" Sabra demanded as she turned from the blazing fire, the object of her dread._

_Sunny ignored her, eyes glazed over, completely numb to her sense of urgency._

_"God damn you, Sunny, you're completely stoned," she wanted nothing more than for him to be in that burning apartment building. "Where is our baby? Did you leave her in the apartment..." her voice broke. She ran to the nearest fireman. "My baby's in there!" she screamed._

_The man looked her up and down, her platform stiletto heels were giving him ideas about what was under her long coat, "Where were you when the fire started?"_

_Her dark eyes narrowed, "At work. I ran over here as soon as I heard about the fire. My boyfriend was supposed to be watching or baby - she was on the third floor."_

_"Where exactly do you work dressed like that, missy?" the fireman gave her an ugly crooked grin, revealing a row of crooked teeth._

_Before Sabra could snap at him there was an intense crack as the fourth floor of the building gave way and crashed through the third. The fireman shuddered. "We'll do what we can, lady."_

_Sabra looked up at the fire helplessly, up where the third floor should be. Up where her baby should be sleeping peacefully. But it was completely consumed in flames._

"There was no body to bury," Shepard spoke through a clenched jaw. "The fire happened one month before my eighteenth birthday. After it happened I gladly helped Sunny's second in command overthrow him. Then I enlisted, I ran away. Think of how different my life could be..."

"Don't torture yourself over what you've lost, it will consume you."

Shepard looked at Thane sympathetically out of the corner of her eyes. She knew he spoke from experience.

"Now it's my turn to tell you not to pity me, siha," Thane gave her a small smile, and then grew serious. "You said your mother left you... I had heard that you had no mother, is it rude of me to ask..."

"No, no, it's okay," Shepard kept her gaze locked on the path in front of her. "I grew up on the streets. All I know about my mother is what the orphanage told me, what the nurses at the hospital told them... She was a cultist, had strange beliefs. I was born premature, by C-section... there were some kind of complications, my... mother had to be drugged. And when she came out of it she saw that I had been hooked up to a bunch of machines," Shepard pointed to strange scars on her neck. "That's one of the places where the tubes went in.

"Well, my mother's religion taught that if you pierce through someone's skin you'll let evil demons into their body. Since I was possessed by the devil, in her eyes at least, she abandoned me in the hospital, disappeared in the middle of the night."

"Do you know anything about your father?"

Shepard made a face. "Unfortunately... he was the leader of her cult, a much, much older man. She was only seventeen. It's disgusting. That's the extent of what I know of both of them. They didn't even name me - they gave me a last name, that was it. A nurse named me after her daughter, a marine who had just been killed in action. I grew up in an orphanage until I ran away to join Sunny's gang, when I was twelve. I couldn't resist him; he was everything I liked in a man; tall, dark, handsome... and dangerous."

oOo

_Two days before the mission..._

The doors of life support swooshed open and Thane heard Shepard's footsteps approaching.

"How are you, siha?" he asked without turning around.

She grunted and sat in her usual spot. To Thane's surprise, she laid her head down on the desk, as though defeated.

"I just got some bad news," she said.

"I can tell something is disturbing you."

"One of my best friends in this entire galaxy is this kid, Teddy, who served under me during my assignment before the first Normandy. It was his first assignment... the poor kid didn't even get to serve for a year when his lad was mangled by a varren. The wound got infected and his leg was amputated - he was so torn up about it when he got discharged. Only good thing that came out of it was we had no more rules about fraternization restricting our friendship... I swear I'm coming to a point..."

"I don't mind, siha."

"Yeah... well, he started going back to college on Earth, and in his summers he likes to take internships abroad. He was supposed to board a commercial vessel headed for the Citadel out of New York City... he was going to study there... that was a month ago. He checked out of his hotel that morning, and that was the last anyone heard of him.

"It was the day before Sunny contacted me, actually. I don't know why they didn't tell me until now... stupid bastards. If I had known sooner I would have made it to Earth a lot quicker. I couldn't figure out what signal Sunny was using then even though I had EDI, Tali, _and _Garrus working on it. But today I tried again - I forwarded to Tali a message from Teddy and she was able to determine that Sunny hacked Teddy's personal terminal to talk to me."

Then she fell silent.

Thane carefully swept some of her black locks out of her face, "You are worried for your friend's safety?"

"He's probably dead," she raised her head and looked Thane in the eye. "See, Sunny is a homophobe. And if he's been goin through Teddy's personal terminal then he's found out that Teddy is gay. God knows what he's done to poor Teddy," her voice was bleak.

oOo

_The day of the mission..._

"I told you to come alone and without weapons, and you bring an army," Sunny leaned against a desk in the middle of the room as he studied the squad, humans and non-humans, filing through the door. They mimicked Sunny's red-clad thugs and lined themselves horizontally behind Shephard, weapons drawn.

"I tried to tell them to stay at home," Shepard shrugged, "They just wouldn't listen."

Sunny was a short man but he stood as though he thought himself tall, dressed sharply in all black. Thane took note of the scars covering his face that told an unpleasant story. "I'll never understand this way you have with people... You can get them to follow you anywhere, even to Hell and back."

Shepard smiled at this, "And that's precisely what we're gonna do. Soon as we're done with you. You've probably heard about the disappearing human colonists? We found out who's takin them and we're gonna blow them all to Hell. That's it, now you have the complete update on my life and what I'm up to."

"Not exactly," Sunny's smile lacked all warmth or comfort. "You're supposed to be dead. Too bad. I actually felt some emotion when I heard about it - mostly anger because I wanted to kill you myself."

As though to prove a point, Shepard sauntered over to the desk and sat on the edge next to Sunny. "Is that really why you called me here, Sunny?"

"Not really. I knew that killing you would be impossible, that there was no way of doing it without coming out dead myself," Sunny eyed her heavily armored posse. "And I value my life more than yours. Instead I have a favor to ask. And I knew you wouldn't come see me if I was honest with you, thus the lie about Daisy. I need you to collect some cargo that was stolen from me. It's very valuable cargo."

"What is it?" demanded Shepard, a rightfully suspicious look in her eyes.

Sunny considered the question. "I guess it doesn't hurt to tell you, because you are going to retrieve it for me, regardless. It's flesh."

"Flesh?" Shepard's jaw dropped.

"You're disgusting," Jacob spat.

"He means people, Shepard," said Samara, "prostitutes."

Shepard made a face. "What makes you think I would agree to aid your prostitution ring? You gotta be out of your..."

"Tsk, tsk," Sunny chuckled. "Such a hypocrite, Sabra." He watched her team to see if they were catching on.

Shepard's expression was changing. She was suddenly vulnerable. "What I did to my own body I would never do to anyone else."

"What's wrong, Sabra? Is it... oh, I see. Yes, I see," Sunny laughed. "You've never told your friends that... well, who am I to tell them that you used to be a prostitute... oops. I slipped."

The whole team locked their gaze on Sunny's thugs, avoiding Shepard respectfully as she averted her eyes. "What I did to my own body I would _never _do to anyone else," she repeated. She looked up hesitantly at Thane, and he relinquished his watch over Sunny's men to gaze back at her with soulful eyes.

Sunny's eyes darted back and forth from Shepard to Thane, but he retained his composure. "Why not? What's good for the goose is good for the gander."

Shepard snapped her head up to glare at Sunny defiantly. "I did what I had to do to support my growing daughter and my lousy boyfriend and all his bad habits. I can count on one hand how many times I had to do it. And as I recall, each time was to get you out of trouble."

She flipped her hair out her face, regaining her confidence, "The first time I did it, it was to bail you out of jail. Remember, Sunny? Remember when you told me I had to get that bail money, no matter what or how? Well, I didn't have many options; my only asset was my body..."

"Which you flaunted, every night under neon lights," Sunny turned to Shepard's crew, "Has she ever demonstrated or you her proficiency on a pole? She's very good; she can do things with those legs that would make your head spin."

Jack's jaw dropped, but everyone else was careful to keep their reactions in check.

Shepard stood her ground, "It was a legitimate job, and it paid for your clothes and your food..."

"It was indecent. It was filthy." Sunny was steadily turning red. "I couldn't stand it; every time you held Daisy to your filthy body I wanted to tear her away."

Shepard laughed cynically, "Oh, that's very interesting, considering how that didn't stop you from touching me with your own body. Every. Night."

He disregarded the comment, "You were a whore."

"I did what I had to do." Shepard's entire body was tense and her eyes on fire. "Isn't it amazing, the things a woman will do for her family that a man can't do? A man can't relinquish his pride and embrace Hell so his family can eat, at least not the way a woman can."

Thane smiled slightly, amused.

Shepard continued, "I will not help you sell people's bodies, I will not help you subject them to the same humiliation..."

"Yes, you will," Sunny turned to his terminal on the desk behind him and brought up a live recording of an unconscious man tied to a chair and for some reason shirtless. "I have collateral."

Shepard studied the screen, "That's Teddy. So you did abduct him..."

"There's more," Sunny brought up a similar live recording of a shabby looking woman, crumpled in the corner of a cell. Her straight, black hair hung in her face, concealing her identity.

"Who's that?" Shepard's brow creased.

"Your sister."

Shepard stared at Sunny as though he were insane. "I have a sister? How the Hell did you get your hands on her?"

"It was... fate. I needed a way to get back at you and it fell in my lap. I got her from another dealer in a game of cards. He said she was one of his best sellers because she looked just like you, the great Commander Shepard. I questioned her and sure enough, her real last name is the same. She goes by a pseudonym to cover her tracks. See, she ran away from the cult your father runs. She already had a habit because he used drugs to control his congregation. So she started selling her body to get more."

"If you already had her then why did you need Teddy?" asked Shepard with irritation growing in her voice.

Sunny shoved his face uncomfortably close to Shepard's. "It's really difficult to get ahold of you, Sabra, especially to speak to you live. It wasn't hard, though, to find an information broker who knew all your friends. Once again it was like fate or something. Your friend Theodore was passing through New York City right when I needed him."

"So what is it you're going to do to them if I don't comply with your request?"

Sunny's cold smile reminded Thane of a husk. "Ever heard of pink rain? It's what you get when a human body explodes into millions of tiny pieces. Do you see that fresh scar across your friend's abdomen? That's where I planted a bomb. The girl has one too."

Shepard made a sound somewhere between a growl and a sigh. "You really are repulsive. Send the coordinates for your stolen goods to my omni-tool."

Sunny gave her a smug smile and typed something into the terminal. "Done."

Shepard turned on her heel and marched out of the room, her companions following, all careful not to turn their backs on Sunny and his friends.

"This place is bugged," Shepard was already flying down the hall. "We need to get out of here so we can plan what to do next."

Once they were outside Shepard led them to a deserted alley and looked at her team. "There's no way in Hell I'm traipsing out there after Sunny's property. We gotta find out where Teddy and this girl are and get them outta here."

"Ten steps ahead of you, Shepard," Garrus was already furiously searching the data he downloaded from Sunny's main terminal on to his omni-tool, as was Tali.

"Luckily," said Tali, "We had the foresight to download that data when we came across it."

"So you know where they are?" Shepard licked her dry lips.

"Precisely," Garrus said with a simple nod.

Ever so slightly, Shepard relaxed, "I love you guys."

Garrus grinned, "We know which building they're in, we know the ventilation system, we know where to go to turn off the fans, we even know where to go to turn off the cameras."

"I love technology," Shepard gave a slight smile. "It makes doing illegal things like breaking and entering so much easier."

Miranda tapped her foot in agitation, "So do you already have a plan?"

"Yes, I think we do," Garrus half-grinned at Thane, "I believe this is a job for Krios."


	5. Chapter 5

_Hi! I'm back. I actually wrote most of this a year ago before I quit posting. Hope it's satisfactory after such a long break._

_I'm kind of a ditz & out of practice so please alert me to any content or obvious technical & mechanical errors._

_I am not about to take credit for Bioware's amazing work._

_Mission: Out of the Woodwork_  
_Mission status: incomplete_  
_The day of the mission..._

Thane found making his way through the abandoned school that Sunny used as an office building to be incredibly easy. The security cameras were obviously installed on a low budget many decades ago and only located in the halls and stairwells. And the layout of the building was easily navigated for the sake of the students that once trudged the halls. So he could have sleepwalked through this task as he snuck past security cameras and Sunny's gang to turn off the air vents. He had to turn off the air vents so he could access them to reach the security office in the heart of the building easily, where he turned off the cameras so the rest of Shepard's team could enter the building unnoticed.

As boring as this was compared to the two fights in the warehouse, at least the stakes were high. One glimpse of Thane on those security cameras and Sunny's thugs would certainly detonate the bombs.

"Task completed, Shepard," Thane said into the comm. unit as he successfully disabled the cameras, stepping over an unconscious security guard to access the controls.

"Great," came Shepard's voice. "Meet us in the first holding cell where Teddy is."

Thane looked up at the vent, and then to the door, pondering. He knew Shepard would expect him to come sliding through the ventilation system, as she and Mordin would have to do in order to access the holding cell without raising the alarm. But that would be too easy.

Garrus had reviewed him on the floor plan & sent a copy to his omni-tool despite Thane's perfect memory. He only had to make it down the hallway, past the stairs, through a large room that possibly harbored thugs, and both cells were reformed maintenance closets attached to that room.

Certainly it would be foolish to risk drawing attention to himself, but Thane was an expert at avoiding that. And he might as well start clearing a path for the squad to get out safely while dragging the two prisoners.

The best reason of all - the one that decided the matter - was that Thane needed to keep busy and not think about the events of the day. Shepard's past was sickening. He didn't judge her for it, but it made his heart sink to know the demons she lived with.

_He looks up at the fire escape ladder suspended above him. This old human building is so queer. He readies himself to jump..._

_Her hand is on his shoulder, her expression guarded._

_"Thane," she whispers. "Do you no longer respect me now that you know... my past - that I used to sell myself?"_

_He looks steadily into her umber eyes. "This is not the time or place for this conversation, siha. But in short my answer is this: knowing now what you have survived and excelled beyond, I respect you even more. Now I must go."_

The door to the security center required a pass key to get in and out, but that was easily dismantled. Listening at the door he heard three sets of footsteps passing. He was confident this would go smoothly, they would never see him coming, no one ever did.

oOo

"Holy... Thane, you scared me for a second," Shepard rose to meet him as he stepped casually through the door of Teddy's cell. The room was incredibly small, barely holding them and Mordin with Teddy's writhing body sprawled across the floor.

Shepard shook her head, "This is so fucking bizarre."

Mordin was running a scanner up and down the length of Teddy's form. "No, Shepard. No anomaly. And the cut is superficial."

Thane looked to Shepard inquiringly.

"Sunny was bluffing." She rolled her eyes, "He seriously expected me to just believe him."

"For as many years as you lived together he doesn't know you very well," commented Thane.

Shepard put a hand to her ear. "Garrus? Samara? Are you in the other holding cell?"

"Yes," said Garrus's voice. "But, Shepard, you're going to have to come see this..."

"The bomb's a fluke, I know, it's all very anti-climactic."

"Yeah, we figured that out - the scar barely goes past her skin," Garrus sighed. "But... you should come see this, Shepard."

"Sunny has been performing some kind of experiment on this girl," said Samara. "Dr. Solus should examine her, she's very near death."

"Dammit," Shepard grabbed her hair in frustration. "Do not let her die."

"Then you better get over here with the doctor quick, Shepard," Garrus said tersely.

"Miranda?" Shepard called over the comm. "Are you ready? Were you able to find more ammo?"

"Ready, Commander Shepard, and don't worry about ammo. We hit the jack pot - found 10 crates packed with ammo" said Miranda. "Any clue what we're running into?"

Shepard looked to Thane. "What did you encounter on your way over here?"

"The building is pretty well occupied, and they're carrying guns now. I think they expect us," he replied.

"Expect a firefight," Shepard said into the comm. unit.

She turned to Thane, puzzled. "You know that tiny little garage attached to the warehouse that we found as you were leaving? It was filled with guns like the ones Mordin was hitting Sunny's men with, plus a shitload of ammo. And it was completely unguarded. I don't get why they didn't just utilize their weapons supply to fight us."

"Maybe they were saving it for something else, siha."

"You think Sunny's got something big planned?" Shepard shook her head,"Garrus and Tali would have picked up on that when they hacked the computers."

"They possibly did not see what they weren't looking for. How is your friend?" Thane indicated Teddy who groaned as Mordin applied medigel to his wounds.

"Very lucky. Not what I expected. Still, needs a hospital," Mordin jumped in before Shepard could even open her mouth. "Dehydrated. Malnourished. Fractured ribs. No internal bleeding. The scar is for show."

"So can we move him?" Shepard knelt beside Teddy, looking over the bruises on his chest.

"He'll be fine. Yes," Mordin nodded.

Shepard caressed her young friend's face, "Hey, baby, you think you can walk? Maybe with someone's help?"

Teddy smiled weakly, "Ready, Freddy," he choked out.

Mordin helped Teddy up, wrapping one of the injured man's arms around his shoulders. He nodded at Thane and Shepard, "Lead the way."

As Thane followed close behind Shepard out the door, he leaned in and whispered, "Who is Freddy?"

Shepard laughed, "Thane, you're cute. Cute and lethal," she pointed through the open door into a room filled with unconscious men.

"They're not dead," Thane followed Shepard and pointed to a door across from them. "The other cell is that door."

Shepard laughed as she looked around at about a dozen or so of Sunny's tough guys slouched over each other. Thane had caught them in the middle of a game of dice.

"What exactly did you do to them?" Shepard asked.

One corner of Thane's mouth twitched into a half smile. "To borrow a human phrase, that's my little secret."

Shepard rolled her eyes and pushed open the next door, catching Garrus and Samara off guard.

"Put the guns and biotics away," Shepard waved her hands at them, "It's just us."

Mordin shifted Teddy onto Thane's shoulder and pushed Garrus aside to investigate. Thane supported Teddy and watched from the doorway as Shepard and Mordin crowded into the cell with Garrus, Samara, and the unconscious girl. The young woman was so emaciated that it was difficult to determine her age. Her straight, black hair was like a nest and her rail-thin arms were covered in track marks.

What they hadn't been able to see in the surveillance video Sunny showed them was the patches of lesions and bubble-like tumors that were growing on her skin.

Shepard made a disgusted noise as Samara pushed back the girl's hair to reveal her face; one side was a replica of Shepard, the other side was... mutated. Her facial features were exaggerated by large tumors that drooped down her face like a plastic mask that had been left out in the sun.

"Man, and I thought I had it bad," sighed Teddy.

The girl's eyes fluttered open and rolled lazily around the room.

Shepard kneeled beside her while Mordin took blood and tissue samples.

"Can you hear me?" Shepard asked. "I'm Commander Shepard, your... sister. Half-sister. What's your name?"

After slowly clenching her eyes shut and opening them again the girl answered in a soft whisper, "Lisette. Just leave me alone. I'm dying."

"It's true, Shepard," Mordin was examining the tumors on Lisette's chest. "These tumors are cancerous. Malignant."

He pulled up Lisette's dirty dress. Under the tumors and lesions, her muscles were malformed. "Has reached internal organs," he affirmed.

Shepard was trying to keep the look of horror off her face.

Mordin explained, "Slightly similar human illness exists - genetic mutation, not malignant, never fatal. This is not that disease; this is Salarian. Also genetic, no cure, terminal. Need to do more research."

"How did she get a Salarian disease?" Shepard eyed the girl nervously.

"Seems your friend Sunny has been experimenting with genetics," said Garrus.

Shepard waved her hands around at their surroundings, "In an abandoned school? Doesn't he need a lab? Where are the scientists?"

"Long Island," Lisette rolled her eyes at Shepard. "They aren't in Sunny's gang, but they're on the payroll. Sunny got the bright idea that if he can manipulate my genes he can do it to you. He had some kind of plan - to infect you with this illness, like an ambush or something." She looked at Mordin, "You haven't got any good drugs on you, do you?"

Mordin grimaced with distaste and administered some morphine.

"Sunny knows he can't shoot me, so this is what he resorts to?" Shepard ran her hands through her hair. "He wasn't sending me after prostitutes, then, but after my own death. A slow, disgusting death."

"Don't you ever get sick of people wanting to kill you, Shepard?" Garrus smirked.

"It's not because of your daughter," Lisette's statement surprised Shepard. "It's because you'll get in his way. It's because he wants to move his business up to a galactic level - like he thinks he can take over the universe or somethin - and you always stop shit like that."

oOo

Sunny was waiting in the first room of the warehouse, assessing the carnage inflicted by Shepard's team. The scowl he wore was just one more scar across his face.

As he noticed Shepard enter with Thane and Jacob he began to strip down layers of black clothing until all he wore was his pants and boots. Thane quickly took note of a tattoo on one shoulder, the portrait of a little girl that was almost identical to Shepard's. The child had to be Daisy. Down his other arm was a swirling dragon much like the one on Shepard's leg. And as Sunny began to pace and turned his back on the team, Thane was taken by surprise at Sabra's name tattooed on the back of Sunny's shoulder. The beautifully scripted letters were marred by what appeared to be self-inflicted scars.

A distantly familiar sensation twisted within Thane's chest.

_"This man has been coming to the house? How often?" he asked, years of self-discipline barely holding back his anger._

_"Oh, please, Thane. He's just a friend," she eyed him reprovingly. "He helps out with things around the house that you're not here to take care of."_

_He glared at her - she knew that would get to him._

_"He better stay away from my home, and my wife, and my child."_

_"This is so unlike you. Stop it. Stop being so jealous."_

Jealousy. It was hitting Thane hard that Sunny shared an intimate history with Shepard. He had never had quite this problem with Irikah. Her male friends were just that - friends. And the few lovers she had before Thane were innocent childish flings. But here Shepard had been intimate both emotionally and physically with multiple men. Including the heinous man before him.

He began to wonder if there was a tattoo of Sunny's name somewhere on Shepard's body. And the thought almost made him sick.

"So you know now that the bombs were fake," said Sunny.

"That wasn't even clever, Sunny," Shepard shook her head at her former lover. "You should have known I wouldn't comply with your demands."

"Cleverness never was my strong point. That's what I had you for," his gaze was almost affectionate. "You were a good partner, in that aspect."

"Touching."

"It was about all you were good for," he sneered.

"And you were good for just about nothing."

"You've taken down over 100 of my men, Sabra," Sunny started towards Shepard, stalking her as if she were prey. "You have a good team."

Shepard proudly took her commander pose, "I do. Each one is worth ten of the average fighter."

Sunny barely glanced at Jacob, but his eyes bore through Thane. "Some more than others, I suppose," he murmured. "I figured out something," Sunny's voice cracked as it started to fill the room, "from the way you looked at him. I'm not dumb. I see stuff."

Thane never even flinched as Sunny menaced towards him.

"I don't know what you are, mister," a cynical smile grew on Sunny's face, "but I'm assuming you think you got what it takes to keep her around..."

Shepard huffed. "Leave him alone, Sunny."

As Sunny stood inches away from Thane, it was obvious that the shorter man was not impressed by the near foot Thane had over him. "She'll be faithful... occasionally. Not the marrying kind." He stepped in even closer, "But she's a damn good screw, right?"

"Shut up, Sunny," Shepard was reaching for her gun.

Sunny turned to Jacob, "Right?"

Jacob glowered, his fingers twitching.

Sunny licked his lips and smiled coldly at Thane. "My tongue," he said softly, "has been on every inch of that body..."

Shepard was suddenly behind her ex, her right hand reaching for his shoulder. "Okay, that's enough... Ouch! Dammit," she winced as Sunny cracked her wrist back at an unnatural angle.

Next Thane was reaching out to touch Sunny, with his fist right across the short man's face. Sunny made the mistake of pausing to let loose a string of obscenities, and Thane sent him flying with a powerful kick to the chest.

Sunny flipped back up to his feet in the same way Shepard had in her match with Jacob. He leaped at Thane as though he had springs in his legs. When Thane dodged he almost crashed with Jacob, who was rushing to a very pale & faltering Shepard.

"It's not broken," she assured Jacob when he reached her. They both jumped as Sunny roared at Thane.

"Should I let Krios handle this?" Jacob asked Shepard.

"Yes," Thane barked as he quickly gathered himself, anticipating Sunny's next move.

Sunny was burning with anger, his face bright red, making the contrasting white scar tissue mapped across his face practically glow.

Thane realized that from watching Shepard fight he knew what to expect out of Sunny, as he had, after all, trained the commander long before the Alliance got their hands on her. The two men were locked in a long series of lightning fast blocks and blows before Sunny interrupted the monotony with a low sweeping kick. Thane flipped backwards to avoid Sunny's leg successfully, and he vaguely heard Jacob say, "I didn't know Krios could do that."

Sunny closed the distance between them in an instant, planting his booted foot in Thane's chest. The pain following was a brutal reminder for Thane that his lungs were deteriorating, and Sunny cocked an eyebrow as he noticed Thane's wheezing release of breath.

Blow after blow was directed at Thane's chest, Thane blocking each one as he patiently waited for the perfect opportunity. With a bit of frustration he recognized Sunny now had him at a slight disadvantage.

Even then, he wanted to handle this battle himself, so Thane wasn't entirely appreciative when Jacob rushed in, bouncing head over heels as his foot came crashing down on Sunny's thigh. Sunny cried out as he crashed to the floor, barely rolling out of the way of Thane's fist. Only because of his extensive training was the drell able to prevent his fist from colliding with the cement floor.

It was disturbing how easily Sunny proceeded to block both Thane and Jacob continuously, though at least now he was on the defensive. Fighting was this human's religion, even more so than it was for anyone on Shepard's crew.

Shepard was still cradling her wrist, eyes wide, watching the fight with eyes wide as though entranced. She knew well enough that if she jumped in at this point she would only be getting in the way.

Finally, Thane distracted Sunny by bringing all his weight down in his elbow onto the thigh already damaged by Jacob. This gave Jacob the opportunity to break Sunny's nose, blood spurting from between Sunny's fingers as he grabbed his face. Jacob followed up with a punch to the gut while Thane swung his fist around into Sunny's kidneys.

Sunny fell to his knees and lingered there for a moment, swaying slightly. Thane and Jacob stared at him, shared a look, and Jacob turned Shepard, "Finish him?"

Shepard groaned as she approached this man who she held so much intimate history with. "Gonna beg for mercy, Sunny?"

Sunny glared, "No drama, Sabra. Just action." With that he bounced up, contorting his body and swinging his leg around without aim, just to make his three opponents jump back. In an instant Jacob and Shepard found themselves forced to the ground by Thane as three throwing stars whizzed through the space that should have been their chests. Luckily, Shepard's gun was faster, even wielded by her left hand, and Sunny was down before he had the chance to draw out any more projectiles.

For a long moment the room was still, no one even breathed, especially not Sunny.

Shepard pulled herself to her feet, a wisp of smoke still rising from the barrel of her pistol as she stood gaping at the fallen body before her. 


End file.
